| Today's oil and gas industry workers, | | | | fluids or drilling mud as rock is chipped |
| including geologists who find crude oil and | | | | away. The fluid washes out the drill hole as |
| natural gas deposits; site supervisors who | | | | it goes, making the process more efficient. |
| oversee field operations; and refiners, use | | | | The fluid also stops an oil well from |
| computers and other technology to make their | | | | bursting forth unexpectedly (known as a |
| work easier, more efficient and less costly. | | | | "gusher"). |
| And doing that is becoming easier as more and | | | | |
| more technology is developed. Large oil | | | | In the best conditions, nature helps oilfield |
| companies have a definite advantage when it | | | | workers bring their find to the surface after |
| comes to using technology, since advanced | | | | a well is drilled. After an initial surge, |
| technology costs more than small companies | | | | either large or small, pressure in the |
| can afford. A lot of the technological | | | | reserve decreases, meaning other methods must |
| innovations are not feasible except for big | | | | be used to get the rest. |
| oil companies. But some pieces of technology | | | | |
| are available to all, and even the small | | | | One of those methods is artificial lift. With |
| companies have latched onto them. Some of the | | | | this method, a pump sucks oil into tubing |
| top technologies in drilling include logging | | | | which then feeds into a storage container on |
| while drilling, horizontal drilling, "smart" | | | | ground level. Several years back, walking |
| drill bits, and new methods for recovering | | | | beams-arms which pump back and forth like a |
| oil. Basic forms of logging while drilling, | | | | teeter-totter to suck the oil upward were a |
| where a driller views the inside of the hole | | | | common site in Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, |
| being drilled in one way or another, have | | | | California and other oil-producing states. |
| been around for some time. Logging is used | | | | Another form of artificial lift involves |
| here in the form that you log, or check and | | | | pumping gas bubbles into oil to decrease its |
| write up, what is happening as it occurs. | | | | density, making it lighter and thereby |
| Keeping track of what you are hitting or | | | | allowing reservoir pressure to pump it out. |
| missing helps in future drilling. There are | | | | Both of these methods leave much oil in the |
| various techniques of logging. Such | | | | reservoir, meaning other methods must be |
| techniques make drilling more efficient, | | | | employed to get the rest. |
| meaning less money is spent on getting to | | | | |
| crude oil, which eventually could lower | | | | Water or gas injection are also alternative |
| consumer prices for oil-related products, | | | | methods of bringing the oil to the surface. |
| such as gasoline. | | | | With gas injection into the top of the |
| | | | reservoir, a gas cap forms, forcing oil to |
| Not all oil deposits are readily accessible | | | | the bottom and then pressuring it out. To use |
| to a traditional vertical well. In fact, in | | | | water flooding, water must be entered into |
| recent years many oil wells have been dug | | | | another well site connected to the well being |
| starting on one piece of land and crossing | | | | worked on. The water floods into all wells, |
| underneath a body of water to another piece | | | | forcing oil to the top, since oil floats on |
| of land to reach the deposit. | | | | water. To see this, take any common oil, such |
| | | | as the kind found in most kitchens, and pour |
| Surface drilling equipment is offset from the | | | | some into a cup of water. The two fluids stay |
| oil deposit. At the start of the drill | | | | separate with the oil on top even after |
| process, the well is drilled vertically, then | | | | vigorous mixing. |
| a few degrees at a time it turns whichever | | | | |
| direction is needed to hit the deposit. | | | | Natural gas can be pumped into a reservoir to |
| Sometimes the arc of the well is great, other | | | | mix with the oil, making it light enough to |
| times less, depending on how sharp a turn has | | | | flow. Another option is to use a surfactant |
| to be made. | | | | or soap-like substance ahead of water and |
| | | | behind the oil. The substance forms a barrier |
| The drilling part that actually tears or | | | | around the oil, and water behind the |
| chips away at soil, rock and other materials | | | | substance pushes the oil to the surface. The |
| as a well is dug, called a drill bit, is an | | | | soapy substance also ensures a thorough |
| essential tool to drilling a well. In recent | | | | gathering of oil. |
| years, technology advancements have made such | | | | |
| tools more capable, longer lasting and less | | | | Heat also can be used to get oil flowing. Up |
| expensive. Newer bits, which have carbide | | | | to a million times thicker than water, oil |
| teeth and are specially designed for | | | | can be thinned by blasting steam into the |
| different types of material, can go between | | | | reservoir. Water is first pumped off, then |
| 30,000 and 40,000 feet before needing to be | | | | oil is gathered. |
| replaced.Rotary drilling allows the use of | | | | |